August 29, 2025 • 54 mins
Johnny B, Jay Harper, and Jim McCarthy launch "Circling the Drain" by exploring how the deaths of entertainment legends affect us personally. From Elvis and John Lennon to Phil Valentine and Eddie Van Halen, the hosts share intimate stories about meeting their heroes and discuss why we form such deep connections with celebrities we've never met. Jay recounts his days at MCA Records with Jimmy Bowen as well as his incredible Muhammad Ali encounter, and they pay tribute to the late Phil Valentine who brought them all together.
**[2:24]** Jay Harper's journey from 1000-watt radio to MCA Records with Jimmy Bowen and legends like George Strait
**[14:22]** The shocking impact of Elvis Presley's death - where were you when the King died?
**[16:56]** Why celebrity deaths hit us so hard - the emotional connection to our musical heroes
**[20:13]** Johnny B's tribute to Waylon Jennings and how country music brought him closer to his father
**[24:44]** The forgotten outlaw: Why Johnny Paycheck deserves more recognition
**[29:17]** A touching encounter with Faron Young that revealed the loneliness of faded stardom
**[31:19]** 2025's devastating celebrity losses: From Loni Anderson to Ozzy Osbourne
**[40:12]** Phil Valentine's lasting impact - the radio host who connected like family
**[45:46]** Jay's incredible Muhammad Ali story: Getting the champ to sign his artwork in 1978
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Circling The Drain is produced by It's Your Show dot Co
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Announcer, welcome to a podcast about music and
(00:05):
entertainment before it all goesdown to disposal. This is
circling the drain.
Hey, thanks for coming in tocircling the drain, the podcast
that definitely wants to keepthe entertainment and music
business out of the garbagedisposal, if you know what I
mean, we're glad to have you onboard, and we want to introduce
(00:28):
ourselves, because I know a fewof you, probably quite a number
of you don't know who we are, soI'd like to go around the table
and introduce these finegentlemen that are doing this
podcast with me. My name isJohnny B by the way over onto my
right is a great, great radioman and
even podcaster, yes, and an evennicer guy, yeah, a great guy,
(00:50):
and so humble.
Jay Harper, ladies andgentlemen, Jay, tell a little
bit. You know, you've been inthe radio business. You've been
in the music business,
yeah, yeah, I've had I've hadfun over the last 40 some odd
years. You know, I've been brokeover the last 40 some odd years.
But, you know, I think it's thefun that really counts. But
(01:12):
yeah, you know, I found I feellike such a nerd starting out
like this. But yeah, I did startout at a 1000 watt day timer.
You know, radio, like all of us,yeah, like many of us that are
that have a few years on us, butyeah, in high school, in a small
little station, I was 17 yearsold, 1978 you know, little
(01:33):
station south of New Orleansthat no longer exists. Well, New
Orleans exists, but the stationno
longer exists. Well, there was apoint where it looked like New
Orleans wasn't going to
exist. Yeah, that is the sad buttrue. Yeah, but yeah. But over
the years, you know, work radioin New Orleans, Baton Rouge,
Louisiana and but in 85 got anoffer to come to Nashville to
(01:55):
work with MCA Records in theirPromotion Department. And that
was, that was a kick ass time tobe at MCA. Oh, you're not
kidding. He has, you know, well,the great Jimmy Bowen was head
of the label at the time. Andwhat a character I know. We'll,
we'll probably get into someBowen stories at some point.
But, you know, it was justamazing to, you know, one day
(02:19):
I'm, you know, at a good sizestation. You know, big, big
fish, little pond kind of thingthere in Baton Rouge, with, you
know, with 100,000 wattpowerhouse. But to go from a,
you know, radio station in BatonRouge Louisiana to be sitting in
a meeting a few days later withJimmy Bowen, who would produce
(02:41):
Sinatra's strangers in thenight. And everybody loves
somebody for Dean Martin andSammy Davis and and, of course,
at that point, you know, he wasrenowned for kind of
revitalizing Hank Jr, yeah, hedid, you know, with family
tradition and produced Haggard'sback to the bar rooms album, so
(03:02):
he Waylon, will the wolf surviveAbsolutely. I was around for
that at MCA, but anyway, just tobe in that environment, Tony
brown and then sitting inmeeting and working with the
likes of George Strait, LorettaLynn at that time, Conway
Twitty, Barbara Mandrell, theOak Ridge Boys, I mean, boy,
(03:23):
talk about culture shock,
and then, and then you move to99 seven. WTN, next to Dan
mandus,
yeah, the great Weaver. And Iknow, yeah, Brother, brother,
everybody's Ken's brother. Yeah,they are, yeah, but, but yeah,
you know, hitting, you know,working those, those records and
(03:45):
stuff, getting to be aroundSteve Earl and Patty loveless
and Lyle Lovett when they cameup and got to, got to know them
on a more personal level than aConway Twitty, you know, but,
and getting to work with GlenCampbell and Roger Miller, who
were idols of mine when I waslittle, especially Campbell and
Roger Miller, just some really,really fun stuff, but, but
(04:10):
eventually I produce concerts atfairs and festivals around the
country. And man, you know, thethe song I've been everywhere I
could sing. Well, you don't wantme to sing it, but I could. I
can relate to that song, youknow, because, boy, I feel like
I did go everywhere, producingconcerts again, at fairs and
festivals, primarily countryconcerts. Yeah, and did that for
(04:34):
about four or five years, buthave always had radio, whether
it be full time or part time,kind of in, lurking in the
background, you know, yes, livedin Charleston, South Carolina,
work radio there. Work radio inColumbia, work radio outside
Kansas City. So, you know, Ibounced around a little bit, but
(04:55):
always kind of wanted to makeour way back to Nashville. I
mean, I met my wife here. Mykids were. Born here. So it is
home in many ways. So had anopportunity to come back to
town, and that's where, yes, Igot to run into and for the last
few years get to know and findmyself now sitting here with the
(05:16):
great Johnny B Wow, man. Youknow every Jimmy Bowen, who,
yes, exactly, you know? Jimmy B,No, I'm talking Johnny. B, so
yes, all of the stuff I've doneover the last 47 years was all
meant to circle the drain,circle back here, right, baby,
(05:37):
to
sit with you. Johnny. B, well,I'm thankful for you are my
friend.
Yeah, well, man, it's cool. Youknow, seriously, you know, we've
known each other a few yearsnow, yes, and I thought I feel
like, you know we you're such aneasy guy to to like, believe me,
but you
know, that's not what my exwife,
but you know, as I, you know,started working over at cumulus
(06:01):
and working at Ws, MFM and 99seven and getting to work with
you, and Dan man does, whoseriously, is just such a such a
superhuman what a good dude.But, you know, it just an
immediate rapport with you, Ifelt like and we did. It's, you
know, it's been great, and I'mappreciative and happy to be
(06:22):
sitting here with
you, man. Well, we kind of cameup with this idea at lunch one
day. We just happened to Jayinvited me out to lunch, and we
had tried this before, and withCampbell, Valentine and
Campbell, and our schedule justcouldn't mesh up, so we couldn't
make it happen, and I was tryingto think of somebody to do it
(06:44):
with, and Jay just happened tohave lunch with me. And really,
the man that kind of got thisall underway, and he is also
part of this, is Jim McCarthy.And Jim, a lot of people know
who you are, I don't know notlike you, but we would like to
know more about you? Well, my
name is Jim McCarthy, and Iproduce podcasts. Yes, there is
(07:05):
more
witness protection program
if you're gonna, if you'reaverse to radio voices, man,
this is not the show for you
guys who speak like we'reconstantly on Yeah,
sad but true. Yes, it
is Mommy. I started out at a atthe home of rock and roll. I 95
(07:26):
and Dan Murray Connecticut, and,you know, former radio guy
myself. And yeah, you know, I,you know, the money wasn't
there, but you know, they paidus in experiences. That's true.
The guys who made the money andthe people who made the money
over those years don't have theexperiences that
we have. That's true. And with,he used to pay us with, with
concert tickets, concerttickets. Now that doesn't happen
anymore, no, yeah. Or, you know,he had some trade out
(07:49):
That's right, yeah, $10 off on ahaircut, yeah, anything like
that, yeah, just really lifechanging
freebies, yeah? Or free drinkssometimes at clubs, you know?
Yeah, yeah, cuz
I did that too. Man, spinningrecords in the nightclubs. At
the end of the night, I lookover behind me and there'd be
like, 50 bourbon and coatglasses. Oh, yeah. Like, gee, I
(08:13):
Yeah. People wonder why. Theyalways go, Johnny, how did you
get, you know what? Why did youget so hung up on alcohol and
all those other things? Well,because people were giving it to
exactly, and it didn't cost me
anything. It's like you guyswere, you guys were in radio,
and it was a lot of fun. Yeah,it was, I got into radio and it
stopped, kind of like it wasstill fun for me, don't get me
wrong, but probably not as funas what you guys
(08:35):
had. Yeah, well, I was in radio.Well, I got started in radio.
One fact, to introduce myself tofolks. I actually grew up in
radio. My father owned countrystations in the Midwest, and he
also was very good friend. Infact, he came up in Alabama with
Hank Williams. He used to doshows with Hank Williams, yeah,
(08:58):
and Audrey Williams. And infact, my mother and my father
both sang, and mother wouldn'twant to hang out with Hank and
Audrey because they she thoughtthey were creepy. Was what was
dad's story. But I got startedin radio, working at dad's
station, working nine at nighttill six in the morning. Mercy,
(09:19):
that was a nine hour shift, ninehour shift, and I hate to say
but that that's when I startedgetting amphetamines, you know,
because it would help me stayup. Because, yeah, I was having
a heck of a time staying awake.But anyway, grew up in a
household. We had Jimmy Dean andRoy Clark were a lot, a lot of
(09:43):
times a guest at the house. Itwas very interesting, because
Roy was a lot of fun to havearound the house, and for
especially kids. Roy knew how toentertain kids, and I really dug
Roy. Jimmy was a little more.Yeah, he was more for the
adults, but he did somethinghilarious. I've got to share is
(10:05):
Jimmy Dean. One time he was thefor those that don't know. Jimmy
Dean used to have, like, an ABCtelevision program. He was one
of the first, I think, countryguys to have, and the Muppets
were, yes, that's where you hadRalph start. Yeah, Ralph the
dog, right, right? So anyway,Jimmy would stay at the house.
(10:26):
Now, our neighbors didn't likeus, because they call us
hillbillies. You know, we don'twant to hang out with those
hillbillies over there, right?But when Jimmy would come visit,
all of a sudden, like neighborswould come and bring pies and be
looking over my because mymother was like 411 and they'd
be looking over her to see ifthey could get a glimpse of
Jimmy. But they never knew JimmyDean got on my dad's my dad's
(10:51):
Cub Cadet, wearing his swimmingtrunks, and my mother's swimming
like a shower hat she had. Hejust covered himself in that and
he mowed our grass, and he latersent my dad a bill for $10,000
for lawn care.
(11:12):
You just got to ask. But anyway,I could say is no,
I worked there at Wichita formany years, then moved to
Nashville in 1977 and worked alot in country radio, then moved
on to moved on to contemporaryhit radio, where you have a lot
(11:34):
of Michael Bolton and MariahCarey, and that's where I first
met Phil Valentine, who A lot ofpeople know as a talk show host
that used to be on W, L, A, C,AM, and also 99 7w, T, n. I
worked with Phil for many years,and also Dan mandus after Phil
(11:54):
passed, and that was a couple ofyears there, but I would like to
dedicate this, this episode toPhil Valentine. Because if it
weren't for Phil Valentine, allof us would have never probably
met. And when you come down toit,
right, right? And you know, Inever got to meet Phil. You
know, when I first moved toNashville in 85 I heard him on
(12:17):
on the music radio, yeah, W, L,A, C, Lac, yeah. But, you know,
it just goes to show a man Inever met, sadly, still still
having influences on people'slives, because just what you
said is very true. You know, ifit weren't for him, you and I
would not be, not be sittinghere, not being I did not know
that
(12:37):
about you. You haven't met him.No, he'd never know. I never met
Phil, no, because I came aboard99 seven, you know, in a in a
part time capacity right afterPhil passed. So, yeah, I never
got the chance to meet him.
Well, and it's interesting,because this brings the subject
(12:57):
that we wanted to talk abouttoday with, because this is all
about entertainment. I mean,that's what we're talking about.
And when Phil Valentine passed,I was really blown away by how
many people were coming up tome. And I'm not just talking
about at station events. I'mtalking about going to the
(13:18):
grocery store or anywhere else,people that had never met him.
And I can't tell you how manytears are probably on my, you
know, clothes from people thatjust missed him. They were
hugging me, they said, but wemiss him so much. And I mean,
I'm talking about men too, grownmen crying. And it really got to
(13:43):
me. I was thinking about howpeople affect our lives that are
in the entertainment industry.When they pass, even if we don't
know them, it really affects us,like Elvis. I remember when
Elvis passed.
Oh, me too. I was a kid. It wasone of those, you know, do you
remember where you were momentsExactly? Yeah, yeah. I was, I
(14:06):
was working as a bell hop. I was16 years old, you know, August
of 77 and I was working as abellhop at a hotel in the French
Quarter, New Orleans. Wow. Andthere's some stories there.
Yeah. I can remember. The theblack folks that worked at the
at the hotel, in the kitchen,one of the waiters came running
(14:30):
in crying, oh yeah, man, Elvis.Did you hear Elvis died? Elvis
died. They were, everybody wasshocked,
right? You know, oh they were, Imean, it was just mind numbing.
And you know, when you talkabout Elvis, in fact, I have a
great story about my father'sstation, which was country
(14:53):
music, but it was after Elvispassed and the station was going
to do you. Moment of silence forElvis and dad's setup was kind
of weird, because the thetransmitter building was in the
north part of Kansas, and therewas a guy there that an
(15:14):
engineer, that all he did, hiswhole job was to stay there, and
if there was ever any dead airto hit a record. And so they
were going to do this. They weregoing to do this moment of
silence for Elvis, and all of asudden they start the silence.
And there's probably about 10seconds of silence. They have
(15:37):
off air alarms. All of a suddenyou hear a bluegrass song.
Everybody was upset with oldgene that he was the, he was the
engineer up there. But Ithought, you know, Elvis would
have dug that. Yeah, he wouldhave thought it was hilarious.
(15:58):
But, you know, Elvis was huge.Another huge one was John Lennon
of The Beatles. That wasshocking,
yeah, again, the the immediacy,the just the shocking nature of
that you're you're absolutelyright. You know when you and I
talked? I mean, it was aboutaround the same time I was
working radio. I was on the airthat morning when we got the
(16:20):
word in December of 82 I'mthinking it was like December 9,
eighth or ninth of 82 when MartyRobbins passed, yes, and even
though he had had some prettywell known health issues, he had
heart problems as a young man.But still, I remember grown men
calling the radio stationrequesting Marty Robbins in
(16:42):
tears. Oh, yeah, you know, sothe impact that that these,
these celebrities have onpeople's lives, as you say, as
you state, is just it's hard tomeasure, you know,
well, and
it made me really wonder too, itreally happened with Johnny
Cash? When Johnny Cash passed,because I was guest hosting for
(17:06):
Phil on WAC, and we were tryingto we were going to do like
there was like we usually do intalk radio. There's all kinds of
political subjects we wanted totalk about, but all people
wanted to talk about was JohnnyCash, how he affected their
lives. And why do you thinkpeople get so involved with
(17:28):
like, these people's lives, likethey, they is it just, do you
think it's, it's just like apart of their past is gone? Or
do they you think they reallyhave a they feel like they have
a relationship? And I think
it could be a bit of both,Johnny, you know, especially for
musicians, because music hasjust such an impact on people's
(17:51):
emotions Exactly. You know,songs that bring up memories,
or, you know, you remember whereyou were in your life when that
song was popular, or that artistjust really touched a nerve with
you, or maybe a family memberreally loved an artist, yes, and
so that artist brings back greatmemories of your mom or your
(18:15):
dad, because that artist was sospecial to them. For me, for
example, Merle Haggard is stillmy guy in his prime and country.
Nobody wrote him and sang himany better than the hag. And my
first real concert experiencejust me and my dad and I'm going
to get Misty here was seeingMerle Haggard in concert New
(18:38):
Orleans Municipal Auditorium,1972 and I remember there was
like flooding in the area thatnight, yeah, and I remember our
car on the way to the concert.Our car got lifted up in the
flood and started floating. Butanyway, we got to the show and
even, and what's cool about thatconcert is it was recorded as an
(19:00):
album I love Dixie blues is thename of that album, and it was
recorded live in New Orleans.And my my dad and I were there,
and I have that album, ofcourse. So, you know, playing
that album, man takes me back,12 years old, you know. But even
the even haggard, made a commentabout water dripping on his
(19:20):
microphone because there was aleak in the in the ceiling there
at the Municipal Auditorium. Butyou know, so anyway, you know
Merle Haggard, there's a specialkind of relationship. That was
my dad's guy and it became myguy. But anyway, to just kind of
answer your question, yeah, Ithink people just get
emotionally involved, especiallywith musicians and with certain
(19:44):
actors and other celebrities.Oh, sure, you know, Robin
Williams, you know the way hepassed was so sad. Oh, it was
sad. And you know, you hear allthese wonderful stories about
just what a good human he was,you know, just a really good.
Warm guy. So, yeah, I think thatpeople can just relate, because
(20:05):
they just strike certaincelebrities anyway, just strike
emotions in people.
Well, that's very true. I thinkbecause my guy was Waylon Jim,
yeah, yeah, he was the wholereason I came to
Nashville, yeah, you know, and Igot to work with him a bit, and
interesting dude, I
bet, yeah, he was interesting.But I remember when he passed.
It was real strange, because wewere doing doing our show, and
(20:28):
somebody from waylands family,they wouldn't identify
themselves, but they called meon February 13, yeah, 2002 and
they they said that we wanted tosee if you knew that Wayland had
passed. And I said, No, I didnot know. And it hit me like I
couldn't believe the loss Ifelt. Yeah, because and you're
(20:50):
right. Waylon Jennings, if ithadn't been for Waylon Jennings,
my father and I probably wouldhave never gotten as close,
because I remember the firsttime I ever had a Waylon
Jennings, because I before thenI was deep purple, Jimi Hendrix.
I was all into rock and roll,and all of a sudden I'm playing,
(21:11):
I think it was this time album.And dad burst into my room and
he said, Are you liking this?And I said, Oh, dig him. I said,
I think he's really good. Yes, Iwas probably, I would think I
was 15 at the time. Oh, wow.Yeah, that's cool. 15 years old,
because everything else, youknow, he would hear me playing
(21:32):
Hendrix, and he would go, youknow, son, he's hearing things
you nobody else can hear. AndI'm going, Well, Dad, I can hear
it. He didn't like that answer,but, but Waylon, Jennings,
Johnny, in fact, when dadpassed, it was really I was very
gifted. I was given a great giftfrom God with my father passing.
(21:53):
And it's strange to say that,but my dad was visiting
Nashville, and we had a momentalone for just a few minutes,
and we talked very deeply aboutour radio careers, and he told
me he was proud of me and allthat. And I told him I was proud
of him, but he asked me, hesaid, Do you miss Waylon and
(22:16):
Johnny catch said, Oh, yeah.World's just not the same
without those guys in it. Hesaid, Son, it's very important
that you live life and andappreciate all the simple
things. Because he said, thatproves to you, right there, you
never know when your time isgoing to come. And it was only
10 minutes later that he went,Oh, wow. Massive heart attack.
(22:40):
Oh my god. So that was a greatthat was a great moment and a
great life lesson. But you'reright, it's all about, well,
like you and I, we were veryaffected by the death of Eddie
Van Halen. Oh yeah, I rememberthat day vividly.
I mean, I have actually talkingabout, where were you? When?
Types of stories. You know thatyear 2020, was a tumultuous year
(23:03):
for a lot of people. Neil Peartpassed in January of that year,
great drummer, and I was in themidst of recording the rich
Redmond show. Rich Redmondshow.com go check it out.
Cheap plug, and got to do itwhenever you can. My friend, I
was acting producer as well asco host on that show. Rich was
main host, interviewing one ofthe guests, another guest,
(23:27):
another drummer, who was veryinfluenced by Neil, and I was
just, you know, researchingstuff on the computer like I
did, and that's when I foundout. You actually, could
actually see my visceralreaction of me finding out on
camera, when I found out that hedied, man, and that's, that's,
I'm like, I don't know if I'mgreat. I could maybe I am
grateful for that. But then, youknow, yeah, back in October
(23:49):
comes and Eddie dies, and it'slike crying out loud, man, these
are two big heroes in my
life. Oh, you're not kidding.Well, then I was talking about
Waylon Jennings, you know thatwhole from 2002 to 2003 I lost a
lot of country heroes. I lost,you know, we lost Wayland. We
lost Johnny paycheck, yeah. LostJohnny under appreciated, John,
(24:10):
yeah, Johnny paycheck was underappreciate, yeah. He was a wild
and crazy guy, yeah.
But you know, when that wholeHank Williams, well, that whole
outlaw period of country, right?You know all you hear, and
deservedly so is Waylon andWillie Tom, Paul and the Glazer
brothers, Jesse Coulter, DavidAllen, CO, CO, yeah, but
(24:30):
paycheck, man. I mean, he seemsto be forgotten in that
discussion. He shouldn't begreat talent. He had some great
stuff, oh yeah, and great story.I played a few shows with him,
and we'll have to talk aboutthat some other time.
You talk about an interestingguy,
but you know, you talk about,you know, your father asking
you, do you miss Waylon andJohnny Cash? And we can say,
(24:53):
Yes, we do. But the cool thingis, they're still there. We can
play their music. Yeah. And youknow, when it comes to, you
know, we've lost our maybe youhave recording maybe you have
some old air checks of your dad.I don't
know, my dad made records. Yeah,my mother made records too.
Yeah. They live on through
(25:14):
Okay, yeah. But you know, somany fans, we don't have that
now, you know I don't have, youknow, my dad passed in 2011
Yeah, you know, I don't, all Ihave are photographs, you know,
and I'm thankful for that. Butyou know, there's something
about hearing the voice, yeah,that really, really connects
with you. How was, how old wasyour dad? Jake, oh, mercy. He
(25:35):
was 77 and he just, hecollapsed, pulmonary embolism.
Just, he was there, then hewasn't.
Yep, that's way my father,Johnny, what about yours? He was
80, okay. And my mother lifelived? Yeah, my mother was
different. She died. I was justa few weeks of turning 16, and
(25:56):
she was actually on Deckerrecords, Oh, yeah. And she had a
few top 10 hits, but Dad gotjealous. Dad was kind of weird
because he didn't like he didn'tlike anybody else in the family,
you know, having any kind ofnotoriety
or so, what name did your momrecord under
Jeannie Pearson? And you canlook it up on YouTube. Yeah,
(26:18):
have a few of her I wanted to dothat. Yeah, they have a few of
her records on there, but yeah,and Gary Stewart was another one
that I loved, good writer, andhe committed suicide,
right? 2003 you know,
you know, Farron young also, oh,yeah, you know, committed
suicide. And, you know, I had aninteraction with him that we can
(26:40):
discuss one day, but
let's discuss it now. I mean,Farron young. I used to hang out
with him, actually, at the Hallof Fame Motor Inn. It used to
that's what he called, right?And he would go down there, and
I used to go there at the sametime to drink, have a little
drink in the afternoon, and heand I would start talking, I
(27:04):
don't know he, I don't think heknew my name or anything, yeah,
but, and I did know my father, Idid talk about these, oh yeah, I
know that's cool. But anyway, itwas really funny because he
started in on Wayland that, youknow, waylons all screwed up on
this cocaine, and, you know,he's gone broke. He was, I said,
(27:25):
Well, Farron, what's in yourglass there? He said, Coca Cola.
And I said, Well, let me have ahe said, you're not touching.
He was a funny guy. I really didlike him,
yeah, and people forget that.You know, certainly later
generations. I'm sure manypeople watching this maybe have
(27:46):
no idea who Farron Young was,but, you know, there was a time
when that dude was, he was ontop of the world, man, oh yeah,
he was a superstar. He was thesinging sheriff. You know, he
was in movies out in LA had hisown talk show. You know, a nice
looking guy could sing his buttoff. Back in my concert
production days, I had produceda show. It was a festival in the
(28:09):
Quad Cities. Was it like RockIsland, Moline, Davenport and
Silvis, Illinois? You know whereIllinois and Iowa meet? There
any Quad Cities? But there was abig festival there, and Farron
Young was one of the acts. Therewere several acts on the bill
there. And, you know, was in theheat of the summer. It's 1000
(28:30):
degrees, and Farron Young is,you know, they had a big it was
literally a tractor trailer bed,you know, as a stage, yeah, you
know, like they would do withthose fast Country Music Days,
but it was good science andstuff. Lee Greenwood was the
headliner for that. That's whateverybody was waving on. But
yeah, Farron young got out therethree piece suit. I'll never
(28:53):
forget. It was a three pieceblue suit, you know, with a tie
and all this again, 1000degrees. And Farron young
sounded wonderful. I mean, hegot out there and sang his ass.
He was fantastic. Oh, great,great. And, you know, half the
crowd is not paying anyattention to the guy. Anyway,
later that evening, I was havingdinner. It was like one in the
(29:14):
morning. I think it was at aDenny's
that had a bar, which is thatwas like, wow,
that's a nice Denny. We've gone,
we've gone to heaven a Denny'swith a bar. But anyway, a friend
of mine that was there with theshow. Anyway, we went and had
dinner, and I saw Farron youngsitting in the corner by himself
(29:35):
eating. And as we got up toleave, I go up and I say, you
know, hey, Mr. Farron, you know,saw you at your show. Gosh, you
know, you sound wonderful. Itwas great to see you. And he
started tearing up. Oh, wow. Andhe's like, Thank you, you know,
thank you so much. You don'tknow how much I appreciate that,
you know. And that has alwaysjust kind of struck me, you
(29:57):
know. And it really wasn't thatmuch later, when. The when the
poor man committed
suicide? Well, yeah, everythingwas kind of crumbling, yeah,
getting and you
can only imagine what it's liketo be on top of the world and
then nobody, you know, give arat's ass about you from an
entertainment standpoint. Well,I mean, it's got to be such a
kick to the ego.
It really is. I mean, it's like,you know, when you're in radio
(30:18):
and they fire you by computer,it's, you know, it really jars.
Who could that have happened? Idon't know. I
don't know, but it was a crime,I tell you. Anyway, we've had a
lot of this year. I couldn't getover this year. Oh man, one
right after the other. We've hadLonnie Anderson did be krp, and
(30:41):
since then, she was 82 Yeah,she,
well, she, she died, I think,like the day before her 80th
birthday. Yes, that's right, shewas 79 That's
right, yeah, she was, I met heronce, yeah, did you really,
yeah, when I was in radio inVegas, and very, very shy,
really, she was memorablebecause she was this very kind
(31:01):
of, you could tell she was a bitof an introvert. And, you know,
over the attention, I think shejust wanted to live her life
well, you know, a lot of peopleare like that famous. You know,
they're not. We all thinkthey're now. David Lee Roth, I
doubt is shy. No, he certainlyis not. But we also lost Hulk
Hogan. Ozzy Osbourne, yeah. AndOzzy, I can understand why a lot
(31:23):
of people were because OzzyOsbourne, I mean, that was my
first rock concert. My sistertook me. I was, I think I was
all of 10 or 11, wow. And thatwas my first rock concert, and
first place I ever smelledmarijuana. Smell it, I said,
Peggy, what's that smell? That'smarijuana, John, but I really
(31:45):
liked Black Sabbath. Why am I sohungry? Why can I not remember
where we live? But anyway,
I first smelled weed at aconcert, at a John Denver
concert. Well,
of course, it was John himself.
Another guy lost too soon. Yeah?John Denver,
yeah, yeah. And, what a greattalent, underappreciated talent,
(32:06):
very
underappreciated. But Ozzy, Ican understand, because he's
old, not only that, but he wassuch a part. I mean, he was on
television, you know, he did thereality TV thing. People that
weren't even into rock and rollwatch
that. Yeah, and I think inbecause of the reality TV he is,
he has fans in their 70s, infans in their teens, exactly,
(32:30):
you know, so a big, wide swathof Yes, of generations that
really took to him.
And the same with Hulk Hogan. Imean, Hulk Hogan had been in
movies he had done, you know,reality TV. He also had Malcolm
Jamal Warner. A lot of peoplemay not know, but that was Theo
Huxtable exactly on the show. Healso did it. My wife got into
(32:54):
watching that. I want to say itwas the resident, that may have
been the name of it.
And then he was on a sitcomright on, B, E, T, yeah, like
Malcolm and me, or somethinglike that. Yes, yeah, yeah. So,
great actor, yeah, you know, in54 years old, which you know,
way too young. Yeah.
We also lost Val Kilmer, greatactor.
(33:15):
We lost Richard Chamberlain. Alot of people
remember him from The ThornBirds or Dr Kildare,
Gene Hackman, yeah, we lost GeneHackman this
year. He was, like, his 90s,though, yes, yeah,
was but, but so kind of bizarreand mysterious, and still they
there are questions
about, well, yeah. And what'ssad is that his wife apparently
(33:37):
died before he did, right? Yeah,he was relying on her. So he
that poor man was in the housealone, not knowing, because he
was suffering from dementia.Yeah, dementia. And so he didn't
even he had to be taken care of.But she was gone. She was dead.
And so, yeah, that was a very,very sad. And then we also had
(34:01):
Dave, which David Johansen,anybody that remembered rock
from the 70s, New York Dolls?And he also Buster Poindexter,
wasn't that is,
Oh yeah, yeah, that's right,yeah. We lost. And they had a he
had that somewhat hot, hot, hot,
yes, yes,
the Bill Murray movie, Scrooged.Yeah, right.
(34:24):
But you know, I think, I thinkwith radio, like in Phil's case,
also Rush Limbaugh's case, yeah,is that, I think the audience
feels a little closer tosomebody like that, because on
radio, radio is such a like whenyou're watching a movie, or
you're listening to records, oryou're going to concert, you're
(34:44):
kind of sharing the experiencewith other people. When you're
listening to a talk show, a talkradio show, it's usually you
alone in the car, yeah, and youstart to build and you hear
about these, you know, Rushtalked about his personal. Life
filled in constantly. You know,you got to know his boys, you
(35:04):
got to know Susan, his wife. AndI think it's harder for people.
I think it hits people harderwhen it's somebody like that
that's on the radio that theyget to know, well, intimately,
especially when it's a radiopersonality that has mastered,
the ability to be one on one andintimate and make it feel as
(35:27):
though you were the only onelistening, which now was a and
not everybody, not everybody cando that. You know, there's a
there's a special talent there,and also the fact that you
listen every day, yes, you knowit's like every day, they're a
part of your a part of your
(35:49):
day. Well, they are. They'repart of your life. And I think
that's why, because I've seenpeople, I mean, I've seen people
get emotional over, you know,people that are celebrities and
whatever. But I've seen, I'veseen more people get far more
emotional when it comes tosomebody that's on the radio and
(36:10):
especially talk show host, Idon't know, like I said, I think
the reason behind that is that,like I said, that it's more
personal. You're right there inthe car with them. You feel like
they're a part of your life,even if you don't know them,
right? And especially if it's atalk show host that is local,
yeah, and they're talking aboutthe same, you know, they hit the
(36:34):
same pothole you did thismorning, and exactly, they're
able to relate these local andpersonal stories, as opposed to
maybe somebody that's syndicatedand they're coming from Denver
or whatever, right?
So, you know, even insyndication, I think Phil, I
noticed that Phil was wasconnecting with people in
(36:57):
Florida, he was connecting withit was the same thing. And in
fact, it got When, when, whenthey were doing it right, when
Westwood one was actuallygetting him on stations that had
a great audience. There was atone time we couldn't hardly get
our callers in Nashville to geton, because you had so it was
(37:17):
when we were on in Cincinnati,also in Houston and those
audiences, I mean, they fell inlove with him and,
well, again, he was a specialtalent. Not everybody, not
everybody
could do that. No, they couldn'tRush was really good,
absolutely, you know, regardlessof, I know there are a lot of
radio people that did not likeRush Limbaugh because of his
(37:39):
political leanings, but, butfrom a radio standpoint, and his
ability to connect with anaudience, he was just an
absolute master.
Well, it's the same with Phil.You know, there were radio
people that didn't like Philbecause they didn't like his
political stances, but I thinkit goes deeper than that,
(38:00):
though, with radio peoplesometimes, sometimes it's
jealousy. You know, jealousy,all these people are successful,
Yeah, boy, you nailed that. Andbut let's face it, Limbaugh,
that man saved am radio. At thetime, he
saved talk radio. He saved amradio. I mean, he made talk
radio. If you listen to talkradio before brush a lot of it
(38:21):
was boring,
yeah. I mean, okay, you had yourLarry kings and all that to
certainly have their place inradio history. Don't get me
wrong, but you're right. RushLimbaugh was just a different
animal.
Man. Oh, he was Rush was great.So was I also liked, personally,
I liked Phil Hendry. I thoughtPhil Henry was an
interesting character. He wasman, man of 1000 voices. Yes.
(38:43):
I mean, those guys just madetalk radio fun to listen to, and
Phil did too, and that wasprobably my most fun I've ever
had in radio. And I have to addDan mandus and Ken Weaver and
also Joan Jones. I was shocked,because I was shocked, because I
didn't think I'd ever find thatagain, and I did. I had a lot of
(39:05):
fun working with those people.
Yeah, you know, the sucky partabout it, and you and I know it
well, is, you know, getting uptwo or three in the morning,
that morning shift, it would allwhile it may be fun, it's still
man kill you.
Literally, I can tell hurting mymy
health, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'veworked morning radio at other
(39:26):
stations over the years, andboy, you know that that getting
up two or three in the morning,it catches up to you, especially
as you get older.
Well, I worry about Damn man,just because this guy, he will
fill in later, man, well, hewill fill in on, like, on red
eye radio, which is all night,all night, all night, then he'll
get off there, go in, do themorning show, and then do a do a
(39:50):
fill in in Washington, DC,somewhere later that afternoon,
right? All in one day, all inone day. I'm thinking, How do
you do it? Man, but he
can. It's a race. Radio is apassionate industry. Man, yes,
it is, that's the thing. Is thatI always try to impress upon
radio people, because there arepeople in radio and then there
are radio people. Yes, there isa difference radio people like
(40:14):
I've always told you, even whenyou were on my podcast, you are
still valued us. You still havevalue, even if the industry
doesn't see it. Podcasting needsyou, you know, even with Mr. Dan
mandus and stuff like that, badbuddy, you know, you probably
don't need a big bang in yourhead against the wall. No, you
could be
podcasting. Well, this is morefun, I'll tell you,
right? Is more free form, that'sfor sure. And
(40:36):
I was gonna say that before, youknow, I were talking about Phil
Valentine and what kind of whatkind of, what was the connection
that he had? I think it was kindof an every man. You know, he
was a very relatable every man.He was the epitome of radio when
it comes to the one on oneconnection, absolutely. But I
think he was a brotherly andfatherly figure to a lot of
people. He probably had alacking element of that in their
(40:58):
lives.
Well, he was, and I'm glad youbrought that up, because he was
the kind of guy. I remember eventhe people that came in and
cleaned the station one year,Phil did really well, and he
gave these folks a bonushimself, handed out he didn't
(41:20):
have to do that. No, he did not.And he was the kind of guy too
that I don't care if you werethe cleaning crew or if you were
you know you you were a produceron a another show, no matter who
you were, if you came in andsaid hello to him, man, that
dude talked to you and got toknow you, there was a guy at the
station that didn't agree withhim politically at all. This guy
(41:44):
did production. This guy hadwritten a screenplay. Do what,
I think I know who you'retalking about,
but yeah, he did a screenplay.He did a screenplay, and he
said, man. And he told me thisafter Phil passed, he said it
really touched me because Philsaid, Give me a copy of I want
to read it. And, and Phil triedto help him get his screenplay
(42:08):
to the proper people. I mean, hewas that kind of guy, yeah, and,
like, even us, you know, my wifeand I were trying to buy a
house, and we were a littleshort on the money side, and
Phil helped me out, wow, and Ipaid back some of it. But then
he I was I made one payment. Hesaid, Johnny, after this, you're
good, yeah, you're just, you'reconsiderate, you know the bills
(42:31):
pay. I said, Man, I don't wantto pay you back totally. He
goes, No, just, he said, theydon't pay you enough here. He
said, You're a talented guy. Youdeserve it. And
you mean he didn't put his mafiavoice on and say what I'm
gonna need to do some things forus. You know, if you don't, you
may be swimming over here in theriver somewhere. It's really we
(42:55):
used to love to do those.
But anyway, I you know that it'sjust hard to lose people that
have been such a big part of ourlives, like, you know, Elvis
Wayland, John Lennon, Eddie VanHalen, Phil Valentine, Rush
Limbaugh, whoever it is,whatever, even their sports
(43:16):
people that we've lost like youMuhammad Ali
Yeah, you know Ryan Sandberg,who passed here recently, yes,
you know, I know that,especially for folks in Chicago,
you know, he really, reallymeant a lot, not just to the
Cubs, but to the city. Oh,
yeah, there's, like, also HowardTilley with Miami Dolphin. He
(43:37):
died this past year. But yeah,it's just, and you had a
Muhammad Ali, didn't you have aMuhammad Ali picture
that you brought? Well, yeah, Ihad a, well, you bring that up?
I had, why not? Muhammad Ali washuge, yeah? And I grew up just
fascinated by the guy, becausehe was a fascinating character.
(43:57):
And all of the you know,political stuff aside. I know he
turned a lot of people off, butyou know, you have to consider
the era and the time, you knowthe 60s is when you know there
was so much turmoil in thecountry and stuff, and he
energized as a celebrity, heinterjected himself in the whole
(44:17):
political thing and what wasgoing on. But, but all that
aside, I just found the manfascinating, not only from a
personal standpoint, butcertainly from an athletic
standpoint. You know, keptlosing the title and winning it
back and losing the you know,right? But he, in one of his
(44:38):
comebacks, he was to fight LeonSpinks in the Superdome in New
Orleans, and it was quite a bigdeal. And part of the promotion
for that fight, he came to townin New Orleans, he was going to
(44:58):
make an appearance. And. He wasto go to the ticket office
there. This is back beforeonline and all that you had to
physically go to an office andbuy a ticket, some for events.
But so again, this is 1978 I was17 years old, you know, living
in New Orleans, but he came totown as part of a ticket
(45:20):
promotion, and he was to, as Isay, appear at the ticket
office. But he came in in grandfashion. He came in on the
Natchez river boat in NewOrleans, up the Mississippi
River, and he was to get off theboat and make his way to the to
the ticket office. Well, I had asummer job at a refinery that
(45:41):
year, making five bucks an hourman in 1970 78 which was pretty
good, which was money? Yeah,you're not good. But anyway, I
called in sick at my laborersjob at the refinery because it
was my I had a drawing. I was afairly good artist at one time,
and I had a Muhammad Alidrawing, and I was bound to
(46:03):
determine to get him toautograph that. So I said, All
right, I'm going to go to thatticket office, darn it, and I am
going to get Ali to sign mydrawing. Well, as I said, he
pulled he came in big to do thethe brass band and the jazz band
and all that greet him at thedock as the Natchez river boat
(46:24):
comes to the dock, he gets off,and he's in a they put him in a
horse and carriage. They'retaking him to the ticket office
through the streets of NewOrleans in the quarter. Because
the ticket office, if Iremember, was kind of downtown,
almost in the French Quarter.But anyway, he was in a horse
and carriage, and I got about asclose to the man as we are,
(46:45):
right, you know, walking along.And of course, he's got these
guards and stuff, you know,walking along the carriage,
which I fully understood. Butanyway, I followed that care me
and 200 other people follow thatcarriage all the way downtown,
and he gets out to the to theticket office. Well, they some
guy came out of the office andyelled to the crowd. You know,
(47:09):
if you come into the ticketoffice and buy a ticket, you can
get a picture and an autographfrom Ali. I'm like, son of a
gun. I mean, the tickets werelike, 25 bucks to sit in the top
of the dome, right? Which was alot of money. I didn't have
that, but so well. Anyway, thecrowd starts chanting, Ali, Ali.
(47:30):
So finally, Mr. Ego Muhammad,Ali. He comes out of the ticket
office. He stands on a chair andstarts that Ali shtick. You
know, the greatest, you know,all that stuff, yeah. And, of
course, the crowds going nuts. Iam in a sea of people. I am
probably, oh gosh, 20 yards awayfrom where he was doing all
(47:54):
this. And I said to me, and Ihad walked to that entire I've
been there the entire day,walking along. And this is a
couple of hours. You know, a fewhours is how long it took all
this to transpire between him,getting off the boat, getting to
the office. There, I had mydrawing rolled up in my hand the
entire time. So while he's goingthrough his spiel, he looks
(48:16):
around and he's, you know, thepeople are going crazy. I said,
All right, Mr. Ego, here, Iunrolled, I unfurled the drawing
and held it up, and heimmediately zoned in on it. Wow.
And I'm like, champ, champ. Canyou please sign this for me? And
(48:38):
he just kind of looks and hegoes, you know, he motions for
it to be brought up to him.Yeah, so my heart goes in my
throat as I hand this drawing tothe people in front of me. But
the crowd was cool. They didthe, you know, they they passed
it up to him. So he finally getsthe drawing, he unrolls it, and
(49:04):
he looks at it, and he smileslike approvingly, yeah, and, and
he said he he held it up to hisface. That's great. And I
remember hearing cameras goingoff, yeah, to this day, I have
yet to find anybody that I knowthat life mag Sports Illustrated
(49:26):
somebody Yeah, has pictures ofthat man holding up the drawing
to his face, yeah. But anyway,he held in the crowd.
You didn't take a selfie. He
holds it up to his face, and thecrowd goes, yeah. And he says
something that, well, he usesthe N word, okay, yeah. And he
(49:50):
said, Man, there ain't no N wordfighter this pretty well. So
him. And he signed it, and heheld it back, you know, and the
crowd, you know,
they they brought it back toyou, they brought it back to me.
Well, that's unheard
(50:10):
All right? And that wouldn'thappen today. No, I would not
this. Wow,
if I that's really good. Youdrew that, yeah, 17 years old
man. He did, that's the timewhen I, when I did okay. But is
that pencil? Charkin? Chocolate,charcoal? Maybe. Yeah, this the
drawing is just, is just pencil,but to tilt it forward a little
(50:33):
bit, yeah? But he signed, it's78 Muhammad Ali, wow. And I'm
told that, you know, he later inlife, he was, like a lot of lot
of athletes, he signed a lot ofstuff, but the fact that it was
during his active time he signedat 78 makes this, if I ever
(50:53):
wanted to get rid of it, makesit pretty valuable. Well, you're
not kidding for Ali fans,
and you did a great job
on that, yeah, so, but yeah, youknow, as you can imagine, that's
a prize possession. And,
oh yeah, hang on, that's reallycool. What a great story behind.
But that is a
great story, yeah, so, you know.And I can remember standing
(51:15):
there in the crowd, and peopleare jamming their hands in my
back pockets and stuff, youknow. So I I actually had my
wallet down. I stuck it down inmy underwear, over my crotch,
because people that's that'sgood to know. Let's keep it the
frame.
I learned that. I learned thatat Mardi Gras. Okay, you don't
(51:35):
put your you don't put yourwallet in your back pocket at
Mardi Gras, that's where you putit. But of course, in New
Orleans, putting stuff at yourcrotch, that ain't foolproof
either. But anyway, so yeah,that was quite the experience,
man. But yeah, you know MerleHaggard. My favorite memory.
(51:56):
That's one of my favoritememories. It is a good memory.
It was kind of my my encounterwith the greatest
well, they kind of wrap this up.I'll tell you another great mom
and Ali story. It came fromWayland, Jennings. I saw it on
it was whatever Gary Chapman washosting. I think it was called
Music City. Tonight. Is afterRalph had I know there was Ralph
(52:18):
Nashville. Now, wasn't it? Wasit started out Nashville. Now I
think, yeah, I think it becamesomething, yeah, you're right. I
don't know. I don't know. It mayhave kept the same. But anyway,
he was talking to WaylandJennings, and Waylon was talking
about that his daughter wasdating this guy, and she brought
the guy to her house. She didn'ttell him her last name, that
(52:40):
Jennings was her last name. Shebrings, she brings this guy to
her home, which is waylonshouse. He said, I answer the
door. And he said, on one sideof me is Johnny Cash, and on
another side of me is MuhammadAli. And he said, This poor
boy's eyes look like the looklike the donkey on Hee Haw, and
(53:04):
he said, I just looked at thekids. Said, rough life, ain't
it, son. But anyway, Iappreciate everybody joining us
on our podcast, the debutcircling the drain. We're going
to have a lot more, and we'regoing to have some interesting
guests for you too in thefuture, but we hope you always
join us, and we hope that youhave a great day, whatever it
(53:26):
is, and don't, don't just godown the drain circle the drain
baby. That's from Johnny and Jimand Jay. We'll see you next time
you I'm.
Announcer, welcome to a podcast about music and
(00:05):
entertainment before it all goesdown to disposal. This is
circling the drain.
Hey, thanks for coming in tocircling the drain, the podcast
that definitely wants to keepthe entertainment and music
business out of the garbagedisposal, if you know what I
mean, we're glad to have you onboard, and we want to introduce
(00:28):
ourselves, because I know a fewof you, probably quite a number
of you don't know who we are, soI'd like to go around the table
and introduce these finegentlemen that are doing this
podcast with me. My name isJohnny B by the way over onto my
right is a great, great radioman and
even podcaster, yes, and an evennicer guy, yeah, a great guy,
(00:50):
and so humble.
Jay Harper, ladies andgentlemen, Jay, tell a little
bit. You know, you've been inthe radio business. You've been
in the music business,
yeah, yeah, I've had I've hadfun over the last 40 some odd
years. You know, I've been brokeover the last 40 some odd years.
But, you know, I think it's thefun that really counts. But
(01:12):
yeah, you know, I found I feellike such a nerd starting out
like this. But yeah, I did startout at a 1000 watt day timer.
You know, radio, like all of us,yeah, like many of us that are
that have a few years on us, butyeah, in high school, in a small
little station, I was 17 yearsold, 1978 you know, little
(01:33):
station south of New Orleansthat no longer exists. Well, New
Orleans exists, but the stationno
longer exists. Well, there was apoint where it looked like New
Orleans wasn't going to
exist. Yeah, that is the sad buttrue. Yeah, but yeah. But over
the years, you know, work radioin New Orleans, Baton Rouge,
Louisiana and but in 85 got anoffer to come to Nashville to
(01:55):
work with MCA Records in theirPromotion Department. And that
was, that was a kick ass time tobe at MCA. Oh, you're not
kidding. He has, you know, well,the great Jimmy Bowen was head
of the label at the time. Andwhat a character I know. We'll,
we'll probably get into someBowen stories at some point.
But, you know, it was justamazing to, you know, one day
(02:19):
I'm, you know, at a good sizestation. You know, big, big
fish, little pond kind of thingthere in Baton Rouge, with, you
know, with 100,000 wattpowerhouse. But to go from a,
you know, radio station in BatonRouge Louisiana to be sitting in
a meeting a few days later withJimmy Bowen, who would produce
(02:41):
Sinatra's strangers in thenight. And everybody loves
somebody for Dean Martin andSammy Davis and and, of course,
at that point, you know, he wasrenowned for kind of
revitalizing Hank Jr, yeah, hedid, you know, with family
tradition and produced Haggard'sback to the bar rooms album, so
(03:02):
he Waylon, will the wolf surviveAbsolutely. I was around for
that at MCA, but anyway, just tobe in that environment, Tony
brown and then sitting inmeeting and working with the
likes of George Strait, LorettaLynn at that time, Conway
Twitty, Barbara Mandrell, theOak Ridge Boys, I mean, boy,
(03:23):
talk about culture shock,
and then, and then you move to99 seven. WTN, next to Dan
mandus,
yeah, the great Weaver. And Iknow, yeah, Brother, brother,
everybody's Ken's brother. Yeah,they are, yeah, but, but yeah,
you know, hitting, you know,working those, those records and
(03:45):
stuff, getting to be aroundSteve Earl and Patty loveless
and Lyle Lovett when they cameup and got to, got to know them
on a more personal level than aConway Twitty, you know, but,
and getting to work with GlenCampbell and Roger Miller, who
were idols of mine when I waslittle, especially Campbell and
Roger Miller, just some really,really fun stuff, but, but
(04:10):
eventually I produce concerts atfairs and festivals around the
country. And man, you know, thethe song I've been everywhere I
could sing. Well, you don't wantme to sing it, but I could. I
can relate to that song, youknow, because, boy, I feel like
I did go everywhere, producingconcerts again, at fairs and
festivals, primarily countryconcerts. Yeah, and did that for
(04:34):
about four or five years, buthave always had radio, whether
it be full time or part time,kind of in, lurking in the
background, you know, yes, livedin Charleston, South Carolina,
work radio there. Work radio inColumbia, work radio outside
Kansas City. So, you know, Ibounced around a little bit, but
(04:55):
always kind of wanted to makeour way back to Nashville. I
mean, I met my wife here. Mykids were. Born here. So it is
home in many ways. So had anopportunity to come back to
town, and that's where, yes, Igot to run into and for the last
few years get to know and findmyself now sitting here with the
(05:16):
great Johnny B Wow, man. Youknow every Jimmy Bowen, who,
yes, exactly, you know? Jimmy B,No, I'm talking Johnny. B, so
yes, all of the stuff I've doneover the last 47 years was all
meant to circle the drain,circle back here, right, baby,
(05:37):
to
sit with you. Johnny. B, well,I'm thankful for you are my
friend.
Yeah, well, man, it's cool. Youknow, seriously, you know, we've
known each other a few yearsnow, yes, and I thought I feel
like, you know we you're such aneasy guy to to like, believe me,
but you
know, that's not what my exwife,
but you know, as I, you know,started working over at cumulus
(06:01):
and working at Ws, MFM and 99seven and getting to work with
you, and Dan man does, whoseriously, is just such a such a
superhuman what a good dude.But, you know, it just an
immediate rapport with you, Ifelt like and we did. It's, you
know, it's been great, and I'mappreciative and happy to be
(06:22):
sitting here with
you, man. Well, we kind of cameup with this idea at lunch one
day. We just happened to Jayinvited me out to lunch, and we
had tried this before, and withCampbell, Valentine and
Campbell, and our schedule justcouldn't mesh up, so we couldn't
make it happen, and I was tryingto think of somebody to do it
(06:44):
with, and Jay just happened tohave lunch with me. And really,
the man that kind of got thisall underway, and he is also
part of this, is Jim McCarthy.And Jim, a lot of people know
who you are, I don't know notlike you, but we would like to
know more about you? Well, my
name is Jim McCarthy, and Iproduce podcasts. Yes, there is
(07:05):
more
witness protection program
if you're gonna, if you'reaverse to radio voices, man,
this is not the show for you
guys who speak like we'reconstantly on Yeah,
sad but true. Yes, it
is Mommy. I started out at a atthe home of rock and roll. I 95
(07:26):
and Dan Murray Connecticut, and,you know, former radio guy
myself. And yeah, you know, I,you know, the money wasn't
there, but you know, they paidus in experiences. That's true.
The guys who made the money andthe people who made the money
over those years don't have theexperiences that
we have. That's true. And with,he used to pay us with, with
concert tickets, concerttickets. Now that doesn't happen
anymore, no, yeah. Or, you know,he had some trade out
(07:49):
That's right, yeah, $10 off on ahaircut, yeah, anything like
that, yeah, just really lifechanging
freebies, yeah? Or free drinkssometimes at clubs, you know?
Yeah, yeah, cuz
I did that too. Man, spinningrecords in the nightclubs. At
the end of the night, I lookover behind me and there'd be
like, 50 bourbon and coatglasses. Oh, yeah. Like, gee, I
(08:13):
Yeah. People wonder why. Theyalways go, Johnny, how did you
get, you know what? Why did youget so hung up on alcohol and
all those other things? Well,because people were giving it to
exactly, and it didn't cost me
anything. It's like you guyswere, you guys were in radio,
and it was a lot of fun. Yeah,it was, I got into radio and it
stopped, kind of like it wasstill fun for me, don't get me
wrong, but probably not as funas what you guys
(08:35):
had. Yeah, well, I was in radio.Well, I got started in radio.
One fact, to introduce myself tofolks. I actually grew up in
radio. My father owned countrystations in the Midwest, and he
also was very good friend. Infact, he came up in Alabama with
Hank Williams. He used to doshows with Hank Williams, yeah,
(08:58):
and Audrey Williams. And infact, my mother and my father
both sang, and mother wouldn'twant to hang out with Hank and
Audrey because they she thoughtthey were creepy. Was what was
dad's story. But I got startedin radio, working at dad's
station, working nine at nighttill six in the morning. Mercy,
(09:19):
that was a nine hour shift, ninehour shift, and I hate to say
but that that's when I startedgetting amphetamines, you know,
because it would help me stayup. Because, yeah, I was having
a heck of a time staying awake.But anyway, grew up in a
household. We had Jimmy Dean andRoy Clark were a lot, a lot of
(09:43):
times a guest at the house. Itwas very interesting, because
Roy was a lot of fun to havearound the house, and for
especially kids. Roy knew how toentertain kids, and I really dug
Roy. Jimmy was a little more.Yeah, he was more for the
adults, but he did somethinghilarious. I've got to share is
(10:05):
Jimmy Dean. One time he was thefor those that don't know. Jimmy
Dean used to have, like, an ABCtelevision program. He was one
of the first, I think, countryguys to have, and the Muppets
were, yes, that's where you hadRalph start. Yeah, Ralph the
dog, right, right? So anyway,Jimmy would stay at the house.
(10:26):
Now, our neighbors didn't likeus, because they call us
hillbillies. You know, we don'twant to hang out with those
hillbillies over there, right?But when Jimmy would come visit,
all of a sudden, like neighborswould come and bring pies and be
looking over my because mymother was like 411 and they'd
be looking over her to see ifthey could get a glimpse of
Jimmy. But they never knew JimmyDean got on my dad's my dad's
(10:51):
Cub Cadet, wearing his swimmingtrunks, and my mother's swimming
like a shower hat she had. Hejust covered himself in that and
he mowed our grass, and he latersent my dad a bill for $10,000
for lawn care.
(11:12):
You just got to ask. But anyway,I could say is no,
I worked there at Wichita formany years, then moved to
Nashville in 1977 and worked alot in country radio, then moved
on to moved on to contemporaryhit radio, where you have a lot
(11:34):
of Michael Bolton and MariahCarey, and that's where I first
met Phil Valentine, who A lot ofpeople know as a talk show host
that used to be on W, L, A, C,AM, and also 99 7w, T, n. I
worked with Phil for many years,and also Dan mandus after Phil
(11:54):
passed, and that was a couple ofyears there, but I would like to
dedicate this, this episode toPhil Valentine. Because if it
weren't for Phil Valentine, allof us would have never probably
met. And when you come down toit,
right, right? And you know, Inever got to meet Phil. You
know, when I first moved toNashville in 85 I heard him on
(12:17):
on the music radio, yeah, W, L,A, C, Lac, yeah. But, you know,
it just goes to show a man Inever met, sadly, still still
having influences on people'slives, because just what you
said is very true. You know, ifit weren't for him, you and I
would not be, not be sittinghere, not being I did not know
that
(12:37):
about you. You haven't met him.No, he'd never know. I never met
Phil, no, because I came aboard99 seven, you know, in a in a
part time capacity right afterPhil passed. So, yeah, I never
got the chance to meet him.
Well, and it's interesting,because this brings the subject
(12:57):
that we wanted to talk abouttoday with, because this is all
about entertainment. I mean,that's what we're talking about.
And when Phil Valentine passed,I was really blown away by how
many people were coming up tome. And I'm not just talking
about at station events. I'mtalking about going to the
(13:18):
grocery store or anywhere else,people that had never met him.
And I can't tell you how manytears are probably on my, you
know, clothes from people thatjust missed him. They were
hugging me, they said, but wemiss him so much. And I mean,
I'm talking about men too, grownmen crying. And it really got to
(13:43):
me. I was thinking about howpeople affect our lives that are
in the entertainment industry.When they pass, even if we don't
know them, it really affects us,like Elvis. I remember when
Elvis passed.
Oh, me too. I was a kid. It wasone of those, you know, do you
remember where you were momentsExactly? Yeah, yeah. I was, I
(14:06):
was working as a bell hop. I was16 years old, you know, August
of 77 and I was working as abellhop at a hotel in the French
Quarter, New Orleans. Wow. Andthere's some stories there.
Yeah. I can remember. The theblack folks that worked at the
at the hotel, in the kitchen,one of the waiters came running
(14:30):
in crying, oh yeah, man, Elvis.Did you hear Elvis died? Elvis
died. They were, everybody wasshocked,
right? You know, oh they were, Imean, it was just mind numbing.
And you know, when you talkabout Elvis, in fact, I have a
great story about my father'sstation, which was country
(14:53):
music, but it was after Elvispassed and the station was going
to do you. Moment of silence forElvis and dad's setup was kind
of weird, because the thetransmitter building was in the
north part of Kansas, and therewas a guy there that an
(15:14):
engineer, that all he did, hiswhole job was to stay there, and
if there was ever any dead airto hit a record. And so they
were going to do this. They weregoing to do this moment of
silence for Elvis, and all of asudden they start the silence.
And there's probably about 10seconds of silence. They have
(15:37):
off air alarms. All of a suddenyou hear a bluegrass song.
Everybody was upset with oldgene that he was the, he was the
engineer up there. But Ithought, you know, Elvis would
have dug that. Yeah, he wouldhave thought it was hilarious.
(15:58):
But, you know, Elvis was huge.Another huge one was John Lennon
of The Beatles. That wasshocking,
yeah, again, the the immediacy,the just the shocking nature of
that you're you're absolutelyright. You know when you and I
talked? I mean, it was aboutaround the same time I was
working radio. I was on the airthat morning when we got the
(16:20):
word in December of 82 I'mthinking it was like December 9,
eighth or ninth of 82 when MartyRobbins passed, yes, and even
though he had had some prettywell known health issues, he had
heart problems as a young man.But still, I remember grown men
calling the radio stationrequesting Marty Robbins in
(16:42):
tears. Oh, yeah, you know, sothe impact that that these,
these celebrities have onpeople's lives, as you say, as
you state, is just it's hard tomeasure, you know,
well, and
it made me really wonder too, itreally happened with Johnny
Cash? When Johnny Cash passed,because I was guest hosting for
(17:06):
Phil on WAC, and we were tryingto we were going to do like
there was like we usually do intalk radio. There's all kinds of
political subjects we wanted totalk about, but all people
wanted to talk about was JohnnyCash, how he affected their
lives. And why do you thinkpeople get so involved with
(17:28):
like, these people's lives, likethey, they is it just, do you
think it's, it's just like apart of their past is gone? Or
do they you think they reallyhave a they feel like they have
a relationship? And I think
it could be a bit of both,Johnny, you know, especially for
musicians, because music hasjust such an impact on people's
(17:51):
emotions Exactly. You know,songs that bring up memories,
or, you know, you remember whereyou were in your life when that
song was popular, or that artistjust really touched a nerve with
you, or maybe a family memberreally loved an artist, yes, and
so that artist brings back greatmemories of your mom or your
(18:15):
dad, because that artist was sospecial to them. For me, for
example, Merle Haggard is stillmy guy in his prime and country.
Nobody wrote him and sang himany better than the hag. And my
first real concert experiencejust me and my dad and I'm going
to get Misty here was seeingMerle Haggard in concert New
(18:38):
Orleans Municipal Auditorium,1972 and I remember there was
like flooding in the area thatnight, yeah, and I remember our
car on the way to the concert.Our car got lifted up in the
flood and started floating. Butanyway, we got to the show and
even, and what's cool about thatconcert is it was recorded as an
(19:00):
album I love Dixie blues is thename of that album, and it was
recorded live in New Orleans.And my my dad and I were there,
and I have that album, ofcourse. So, you know, playing
that album, man takes me back,12 years old, you know. But even
the even haggard, made a commentabout water dripping on his
(19:20):
microphone because there was aleak in the in the ceiling there
at the Municipal Auditorium. Butyou know, so anyway, you know
Merle Haggard, there's a specialkind of relationship. That was
my dad's guy and it became myguy. But anyway, to just kind of
answer your question, yeah, Ithink people just get
emotionally involved, especiallywith musicians and with certain
(19:44):
actors and other celebrities.Oh, sure, you know, Robin
Williams, you know the way hepassed was so sad. Oh, it was
sad. And you know, you hear allthese wonderful stories about
just what a good human he was,you know, just a really good.
Warm guy. So, yeah, I think thatpeople can just relate, because
(20:05):
they just strike certaincelebrities anyway, just strike
emotions in people.
Well, that's very true. I thinkbecause my guy was Waylon Jim,
yeah, yeah, he was the wholereason I came to
Nashville, yeah, you know, and Igot to work with him a bit, and
interesting dude, I
bet, yeah, he was interesting.But I remember when he passed.
It was real strange, because wewere doing doing our show, and
(20:28):
somebody from waylands family,they wouldn't identify
themselves, but they called meon February 13, yeah, 2002 and
they they said that we wanted tosee if you knew that Wayland had
passed. And I said, No, I didnot know. And it hit me like I
couldn't believe the loss Ifelt. Yeah, because and you're
(20:50):
right. Waylon Jennings, if ithadn't been for Waylon Jennings,
my father and I probably wouldhave never gotten as close,
because I remember the firsttime I ever had a Waylon
Jennings, because I before thenI was deep purple, Jimi Hendrix.
I was all into rock and roll,and all of a sudden I'm playing,
(21:11):
I think it was this time album.And dad burst into my room and
he said, Are you liking this?And I said, Oh, dig him. I said,
I think he's really good. Yes, Iwas probably, I would think I
was 15 at the time. Oh, wow.Yeah, that's cool. 15 years old,
because everything else, youknow, he would hear me playing
(21:32):
Hendrix, and he would go, youknow, son, he's hearing things
you nobody else can hear. AndI'm going, Well, Dad, I can hear
it. He didn't like that answer,but, but Waylon, Jennings,
Johnny, in fact, when dadpassed, it was really I was very
gifted. I was given a great giftfrom God with my father passing.
(21:53):
And it's strange to say that,but my dad was visiting
Nashville, and we had a momentalone for just a few minutes,
and we talked very deeply aboutour radio careers, and he told
me he was proud of me and allthat. And I told him I was proud
of him, but he asked me, hesaid, Do you miss Waylon and
(22:16):
Johnny catch said, Oh, yeah.World's just not the same
without those guys in it. Hesaid, Son, it's very important
that you live life and andappreciate all the simple
things. Because he said, thatproves to you, right there, you
never know when your time isgoing to come. And it was only
10 minutes later that he went,Oh, wow. Massive heart attack.
(22:40):
Oh my god. So that was a greatthat was a great moment and a
great life lesson. But you'reright, it's all about, well,
like you and I, we were veryaffected by the death of Eddie
Van Halen. Oh yeah, I rememberthat day vividly.
I mean, I have actually talkingabout, where were you? When?
Types of stories. You know thatyear 2020, was a tumultuous year
(23:03):
for a lot of people. Neil Peartpassed in January of that year,
great drummer, and I was in themidst of recording the rich
Redmond show. Rich Redmondshow.com go check it out.
Cheap plug, and got to do itwhenever you can. My friend, I
was acting producer as well asco host on that show. Rich was
main host, interviewing one ofthe guests, another guest,
(23:27):
another drummer, who was veryinfluenced by Neil, and I was
just, you know, researchingstuff on the computer like I
did, and that's when I foundout. You actually, could
actually see my visceralreaction of me finding out on
camera, when I found out that hedied, man, and that's, that's,
I'm like, I don't know if I'mgreat. I could maybe I am
grateful for that. But then, youknow, yeah, back in October
(23:49):
comes and Eddie dies, and it'slike crying out loud, man, these
are two big heroes in my
life. Oh, you're not kidding.Well, then I was talking about
Waylon Jennings, you know thatwhole from 2002 to 2003 I lost a
lot of country heroes. I lost,you know, we lost Wayland. We
lost Johnny paycheck, yeah. LostJohnny under appreciated, John,
(24:10):
yeah, Johnny paycheck was underappreciate, yeah. He was a wild
and crazy guy, yeah.
But you know, when that wholeHank Williams, well, that whole
outlaw period of country, right?You know all you hear, and
deservedly so is Waylon andWillie Tom, Paul and the Glazer
brothers, Jesse Coulter, DavidAllen, CO, CO, yeah, but
(24:30):
paycheck, man. I mean, he seemsto be forgotten in that
discussion. He shouldn't begreat talent. He had some great
stuff, oh yeah, and great story.I played a few shows with him,
and we'll have to talk aboutthat some other time.
You talk about an interestingguy,
but you know, you talk about,you know, your father asking
you, do you miss Waylon andJohnny Cash? And we can say,
(24:53):
Yes, we do. But the cool thingis, they're still there. We can
play their music. Yeah. And youknow, when it comes to, you
know, we've lost our maybe youhave recording maybe you have
some old air checks of your dad.I don't
know, my dad made records. Yeah,my mother made records too.
Yeah. They live on through
(25:14):
Okay, yeah. But you know, somany fans, we don't have that
now, you know I don't have, youknow, my dad passed in 2011
Yeah, you know, I don't, all Ihave are photographs, you know,
and I'm thankful for that. Butyou know, there's something
about hearing the voice, yeah,that really, really connects
with you. How was, how old wasyour dad? Jake, oh, mercy. He
(25:35):
was 77 and he just, hecollapsed, pulmonary embolism.
Just, he was there, then hewasn't.
Yep, that's way my father,Johnny, what about yours? He was
80, okay. And my mother lifelived? Yeah, my mother was
different. She died. I was justa few weeks of turning 16, and
(25:56):
she was actually on Deckerrecords, Oh, yeah. And she had a
few top 10 hits, but Dad gotjealous. Dad was kind of weird
because he didn't like he didn'tlike anybody else in the family,
you know, having any kind ofnotoriety
or so, what name did your momrecord under
Jeannie Pearson? And you canlook it up on YouTube. Yeah,
(26:18):
have a few of her I wanted to dothat. Yeah, they have a few of
her records on there, but yeah,and Gary Stewart was another one
that I loved, good writer, andhe committed suicide,
right? 2003 you know,
you know, Farron young also, oh,yeah, you know, committed
suicide. And, you know, I had aninteraction with him that we can
(26:40):
discuss one day, but
let's discuss it now. I mean,Farron young. I used to hang out
with him, actually, at the Hallof Fame Motor Inn. It used to
that's what he called, right?And he would go down there, and
I used to go there at the sametime to drink, have a little
drink in the afternoon, and heand I would start talking, I
(27:04):
don't know he, I don't think heknew my name or anything, yeah,
but, and I did know my father, Idid talk about these, oh yeah, I
know that's cool. But anyway, itwas really funny because he
started in on Wayland that, youknow, waylons all screwed up on
this cocaine, and, you know,he's gone broke. He was, I said,
(27:25):
Well, Farron, what's in yourglass there? He said, Coca Cola.
And I said, Well, let me have ahe said, you're not touching.
He was a funny guy. I really didlike him,
yeah, and people forget that.You know, certainly later
generations. I'm sure manypeople watching this maybe have
(27:46):
no idea who Farron Young was,but, you know, there was a time
when that dude was, he was ontop of the world, man, oh yeah,
he was a superstar. He was thesinging sheriff. You know, he
was in movies out in LA had hisown talk show. You know, a nice
looking guy could sing his buttoff. Back in my concert
production days, I had produceda show. It was a festival in the
(28:09):
Quad Cities. Was it like RockIsland, Moline, Davenport and
Silvis, Illinois? You know whereIllinois and Iowa meet? There
any Quad Cities? But there was abig festival there, and Farron
Young was one of the acts. Therewere several acts on the bill
there. And, you know, was in theheat of the summer. It's 1000
(28:30):
degrees, and Farron Young is,you know, they had a big it was
literally a tractor trailer bed,you know, as a stage, yeah, you
know, like they would do withthose fast Country Music Days,
but it was good science andstuff. Lee Greenwood was the
headliner for that. That's whateverybody was waving on. But
yeah, Farron young got out therethree piece suit. I'll never
(28:53):
forget. It was a three pieceblue suit, you know, with a tie
and all this again, 1000degrees. And Farron young
sounded wonderful. I mean, hegot out there and sang his ass.
He was fantastic. Oh, great,great. And, you know, half the
crowd is not paying anyattention to the guy. Anyway,
later that evening, I was havingdinner. It was like one in the
(29:14):
morning. I think it was at aDenny's
that had a bar, which is thatwas like, wow,
that's a nice Denny. We've gone,
we've gone to heaven a Denny'swith a bar. But anyway, a friend
of mine that was there with theshow. Anyway, we went and had
dinner, and I saw Farron youngsitting in the corner by himself
(29:35):
eating. And as we got up toleave, I go up and I say, you
know, hey, Mr. Farron, you know,saw you at your show. Gosh, you
know, you sound wonderful. Itwas great to see you. And he
started tearing up. Oh, wow. Andhe's like, Thank you, you know,
thank you so much. You don'tknow how much I appreciate that,
you know. And that has alwaysjust kind of struck me, you
(29:57):
know. And it really wasn't thatmuch later, when. The when the
poor man committed
suicide? Well, yeah, everythingwas kind of crumbling, yeah,
getting and you
can only imagine what it's liketo be on top of the world and
then nobody, you know, give arat's ass about you from an
entertainment standpoint. Well,I mean, it's got to be such a
kick to the ego.
It really is. I mean, it's like,you know, when you're in radio
(30:18):
and they fire you by computer,it's, you know, it really jars.
Who could that have happened? Idon't know. I
don't know, but it was a crime,I tell you. Anyway, we've had a
lot of this year. I couldn't getover this year. Oh man, one
right after the other. We've hadLonnie Anderson did be krp, and
(30:41):
since then, she was 82 Yeah,she,
well, she, she died, I think,like the day before her 80th
birthday. Yes, that's right, shewas 79 That's
right, yeah, she was, I met heronce, yeah, did you really,
yeah, when I was in radio inVegas, and very, very shy,
really, she was memorablebecause she was this very kind
(31:01):
of, you could tell she was a bitof an introvert. And, you know,
over the attention, I think shejust wanted to live her life
well, you know, a lot of peopleare like that famous. You know,
they're not. We all thinkthey're now. David Lee Roth, I
doubt is shy. No, he certainlyis not. But we also lost Hulk
Hogan. Ozzy Osbourne, yeah. AndOzzy, I can understand why a lot
(31:23):
of people were because OzzyOsbourne, I mean, that was my
first rock concert. My sistertook me. I was, I think I was
all of 10 or 11, wow. And thatwas my first rock concert, and
first place I ever smelledmarijuana. Smell it, I said,
Peggy, what's that smell? That'smarijuana, John, but I really
(31:45):
liked Black Sabbath. Why am I sohungry? Why can I not remember
where we live? But anyway,
I first smelled weed at aconcert, at a John Denver
concert. Well,
of course, it was John himself.
Another guy lost too soon. Yeah?John Denver,
yeah, yeah. And, what a greattalent, underappreciated talent,
(32:06):
very
underappreciated. But Ozzy, Ican understand, because he's
old, not only that, but he wassuch a part. I mean, he was on
television, you know, he did thereality TV thing. People that
weren't even into rock and rollwatch
that. Yeah, and I think inbecause of the reality TV he is,
he has fans in their 70s, infans in their teens, exactly,
(32:30):
you know, so a big, wide swathof Yes, of generations that
really took to him.
And the same with Hulk Hogan. Imean, Hulk Hogan had been in
movies he had done, you know,reality TV. He also had Malcolm
Jamal Warner. A lot of peoplemay not know, but that was Theo
Huxtable exactly on the show. Healso did it. My wife got into
(32:54):
watching that. I want to say itwas the resident, that may have
been the name of it.
And then he was on a sitcomright on, B, E, T, yeah, like
Malcolm and me, or somethinglike that. Yes, yeah, yeah. So,
great actor, yeah, you know, in54 years old, which you know,
way too young. Yeah.
We also lost Val Kilmer, greatactor.
(33:15):
We lost Richard Chamberlain. Alot of people
remember him from The ThornBirds or Dr Kildare,
Gene Hackman, yeah, we lost GeneHackman this
year. He was, like, his 90s,though, yes, yeah,
was but, but so kind of bizarreand mysterious, and still they
there are questions
about, well, yeah. And what'ssad is that his wife apparently
(33:37):
died before he did, right? Yeah,he was relying on her. So he
that poor man was in the housealone, not knowing, because he
was suffering from dementia.Yeah, dementia. And so he didn't
even he had to be taken care of.But she was gone. She was dead.
And so, yeah, that was a very,very sad. And then we also had
(34:01):
Dave, which David Johansen,anybody that remembered rock
from the 70s, New York Dolls?And he also Buster Poindexter,
wasn't that is,
Oh yeah, yeah, that's right,yeah. We lost. And they had a he
had that somewhat hot, hot, hot,
yes, yes,
the Bill Murray movie, Scrooged.Yeah, right.
(34:24):
But you know, I think, I thinkwith radio, like in Phil's case,
also Rush Limbaugh's case, yeah,is that, I think the audience
feels a little closer tosomebody like that, because on
radio, radio is such a like whenyou're watching a movie, or
you're listening to records, oryou're going to concert, you're
(34:44):
kind of sharing the experiencewith other people. When you're
listening to a talk show, a talkradio show, it's usually you
alone in the car, yeah, and youstart to build and you hear
about these, you know, Rushtalked about his personal. Life
filled in constantly. You know,you got to know his boys, you
(35:04):
got to know Susan, his wife. AndI think it's harder for people.
I think it hits people harderwhen it's somebody like that
that's on the radio that theyget to know, well, intimately,
especially when it's a radiopersonality that has mastered,
the ability to be one on one andintimate and make it feel as
(35:27):
though you were the only onelistening, which now was a and
not everybody, not everybody cando that. You know, there's a
there's a special talent there,and also the fact that you
listen every day, yes, you knowit's like every day, they're a
part of your a part of your
(35:49):
day. Well, they are. They'repart of your life. And I think
that's why, because I've seenpeople, I mean, I've seen people
get emotional over, you know,people that are celebrities and
whatever. But I've seen, I'veseen more people get far more
emotional when it comes tosomebody that's on the radio and
(36:10):
especially talk show host, Idon't know, like I said, I think
the reason behind that is that,like I said, that it's more
personal. You're right there inthe car with them. You feel like
they're a part of your life,even if you don't know them,
right? And especially if it's atalk show host that is local,
yeah, and they're talking aboutthe same, you know, they hit the
(36:34):
same pothole you did thismorning, and exactly, they're
able to relate these local andpersonal stories, as opposed to
maybe somebody that's syndicatedand they're coming from Denver
or whatever, right?
So, you know, even insyndication, I think Phil, I
noticed that Phil was wasconnecting with people in
(36:57):
Florida, he was connecting withit was the same thing. And in
fact, it got When, when, whenthey were doing it right, when
Westwood one was actuallygetting him on stations that had
a great audience. There was atone time we couldn't hardly get
our callers in Nashville to geton, because you had so it was
(37:17):
when we were on in Cincinnati,also in Houston and those
audiences, I mean, they fell inlove with him and,
well, again, he was a specialtalent. Not everybody, not
everybody
could do that. No, they couldn'tRush was really good,
absolutely, you know, regardlessof, I know there are a lot of
radio people that did not likeRush Limbaugh because of his
(37:39):
political leanings, but, butfrom a radio standpoint, and his
ability to connect with anaudience, he was just an
absolute master.
Well, it's the same with Phil.You know, there were radio
people that didn't like Philbecause they didn't like his
political stances, but I thinkit goes deeper than that,
(38:00):
though, with radio peoplesometimes, sometimes it's
jealousy. You know, jealousy,all these people are successful,
Yeah, boy, you nailed that. Andbut let's face it, Limbaugh,
that man saved am radio. At thetime, he
saved talk radio. He saved amradio. I mean, he made talk
radio. If you listen to talkradio before brush a lot of it
(38:21):
was boring,
yeah. I mean, okay, you had yourLarry kings and all that to
certainly have their place inradio history. Don't get me
wrong, but you're right. RushLimbaugh was just a different
animal.
Man. Oh, he was Rush was great.So was I also liked, personally,
I liked Phil Hendry. I thoughtPhil Henry was an
interesting character. He wasman, man of 1000 voices. Yes.
(38:43):
I mean, those guys just madetalk radio fun to listen to, and
Phil did too, and that wasprobably my most fun I've ever
had in radio. And I have to addDan mandus and Ken Weaver and
also Joan Jones. I was shocked,because I was shocked, because I
didn't think I'd ever find thatagain, and I did. I had a lot of
(39:05):
fun working with those people.
Yeah, you know, the sucky partabout it, and you and I know it
well, is, you know, getting uptwo or three in the morning,
that morning shift, it would allwhile it may be fun, it's still
man kill you.
Literally, I can tell hurting mymy
health, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'veworked morning radio at other
(39:26):
stations over the years, andboy, you know that that getting
up two or three in the morning,it catches up to you, especially
as you get older.
Well, I worry about Damn man,just because this guy, he will
fill in later, man, well, hewill fill in on, like, on red
eye radio, which is all night,all night, all night, then he'll
get off there, go in, do themorning show, and then do a do a
(39:50):
fill in in Washington, DC,somewhere later that afternoon,
right? All in one day, all inone day. I'm thinking, How do
you do it? Man, but he
can. It's a race. Radio is apassionate industry. Man, yes,
it is, that's the thing. Is thatI always try to impress upon
radio people, because there arepeople in radio and then there
are radio people. Yes, there isa difference radio people like
(40:14):
I've always told you, even whenyou were on my podcast, you are
still valued us. You still havevalue, even if the industry
doesn't see it. Podcasting needsyou, you know, even with Mr. Dan
mandus and stuff like that, badbuddy, you know, you probably
don't need a big bang in yourhead against the wall. No, you
could be
podcasting. Well, this is morefun, I'll tell you,
right? Is more free form, that'sfor sure. And
(40:36):
I was gonna say that before, youknow, I were talking about Phil
Valentine and what kind of whatkind of, what was the connection
that he had? I think it was kindof an every man. You know, he
was a very relatable every man.He was the epitome of radio when
it comes to the one on oneconnection, absolutely. But I
think he was a brotherly andfatherly figure to a lot of
people. He probably had alacking element of that in their
(40:58):
lives.
Well, he was, and I'm glad youbrought that up, because he was
the kind of guy. I remember eventhe people that came in and
cleaned the station one year,Phil did really well, and he
gave these folks a bonushimself, handed out he didn't
(41:20):
have to do that. No, he did not.And he was the kind of guy too
that I don't care if you werethe cleaning crew or if you were
you know you you were a produceron a another show, no matter who
you were, if you came in andsaid hello to him, man, that
dude talked to you and got toknow you, there was a guy at the
station that didn't agree withhim politically at all. This guy
(41:44):
did production. This guy hadwritten a screenplay. Do what,
I think I know who you'retalking about,
but yeah, he did a screenplay.He did a screenplay, and he
said, man. And he told me thisafter Phil passed, he said it
really touched me because Philsaid, Give me a copy of I want
to read it. And, and Phil triedto help him get his screenplay
(42:08):
to the proper people. I mean, hewas that kind of guy, yeah, and,
like, even us, you know, my wifeand I were trying to buy a
house, and we were a littleshort on the money side, and
Phil helped me out, wow, and Ipaid back some of it. But then
he I was I made one payment. Hesaid, Johnny, after this, you're
good, yeah, you're just, you'reconsiderate, you know the bills
(42:31):
pay. I said, Man, I don't wantto pay you back totally. He
goes, No, just, he said, theydon't pay you enough here. He
said, You're a talented guy. Youdeserve it. And
you mean he didn't put his mafiavoice on and say what I'm
gonna need to do some things forus. You know, if you don't, you
may be swimming over here in theriver somewhere. It's really we
(42:55):
used to love to do those.
But anyway, I you know that it'sjust hard to lose people that
have been such a big part of ourlives, like, you know, Elvis
Wayland, John Lennon, Eddie VanHalen, Phil Valentine, Rush
Limbaugh, whoever it is,whatever, even their sports
(43:16):
people that we've lost like youMuhammad Ali
Yeah, you know Ryan Sandberg,who passed here recently, yes,
you know, I know that,especially for folks in Chicago,
you know, he really, reallymeant a lot, not just to the
Cubs, but to the city. Oh,
yeah, there's, like, also HowardTilley with Miami Dolphin. He
(43:37):
died this past year. But yeah,it's just, and you had a
Muhammad Ali, didn't you have aMuhammad Ali picture
that you brought? Well, yeah, Ihad a, well, you bring that up?
I had, why not? Muhammad Ali washuge, yeah? And I grew up just
fascinated by the guy, becausehe was a fascinating character.
(43:57):
And all of the you know,political stuff aside. I know he
turned a lot of people off, butyou know, you have to consider
the era and the time, you knowthe 60s is when you know there
was so much turmoil in thecountry and stuff, and he
energized as a celebrity, heinterjected himself in the whole
(44:17):
political thing and what wasgoing on. But, but all that
aside, I just found the manfascinating, not only from a
personal standpoint, butcertainly from an athletic
standpoint. You know, keptlosing the title and winning it
back and losing the you know,right? But he, in one of his
(44:38):
comebacks, he was to fight LeonSpinks in the Superdome in New
Orleans, and it was quite a bigdeal. And part of the promotion
for that fight, he came to townin New Orleans, he was going to
(44:58):
make an appearance. And. He wasto go to the ticket office
there. This is back beforeonline and all that you had to
physically go to an office andbuy a ticket, some for events.
But so again, this is 1978 I was17 years old, you know, living
in New Orleans, but he came totown as part of a ticket
(45:20):
promotion, and he was to, as Isay, appear at the ticket
office. But he came in in grandfashion. He came in on the
Natchez river boat in NewOrleans, up the Mississippi
River, and he was to get off theboat and make his way to the to
the ticket office. Well, I had asummer job at a refinery that
(45:41):
year, making five bucks an hourman in 1970 78 which was pretty
good, which was money? Yeah,you're not good. But anyway, I
called in sick at my laborersjob at the refinery because it
was my I had a drawing. I was afairly good artist at one time,
and I had a Muhammad Alidrawing, and I was bound to
(46:03):
determine to get him toautograph that. So I said, All
right, I'm going to go to thatticket office, darn it, and I am
going to get Ali to sign mydrawing. Well, as I said, he
pulled he came in big to do thethe brass band and the jazz band
and all that greet him at thedock as the Natchez river boat
(46:24):
comes to the dock, he gets off,and he's in a they put him in a
horse and carriage. They'retaking him to the ticket office
through the streets of NewOrleans in the quarter. Because
the ticket office, if Iremember, was kind of downtown,
almost in the French Quarter.But anyway, he was in a horse
and carriage, and I got about asclose to the man as we are,
(46:45):
right, you know, walking along.And of course, he's got these
guards and stuff, you know,walking along the carriage,
which I fully understood. Butanyway, I followed that care me
and 200 other people follow thatcarriage all the way downtown,
and he gets out to the to theticket office. Well, they some
guy came out of the office andyelled to the crowd. You know,
(47:09):
if you come into the ticketoffice and buy a ticket, you can
get a picture and an autographfrom Ali. I'm like, son of a
gun. I mean, the tickets werelike, 25 bucks to sit in the top
of the dome, right? Which was alot of money. I didn't have
that, but so well. Anyway, thecrowd starts chanting, Ali, Ali.
(47:30):
So finally, Mr. Ego Muhammad,Ali. He comes out of the ticket
office. He stands on a chair andstarts that Ali shtick. You
know, the greatest, you know,all that stuff, yeah. And, of
course, the crowds going nuts. Iam in a sea of people. I am
probably, oh gosh, 20 yards awayfrom where he was doing all
(47:54):
this. And I said to me, and Ihad walked to that entire I've
been there the entire day,walking along. And this is a
couple of hours. You know, a fewhours is how long it took all
this to transpire between him,getting off the boat, getting to
the office. There, I had mydrawing rolled up in my hand the
entire time. So while he's goingthrough his spiel, he looks
(48:16):
around and he's, you know, thepeople are going crazy. I said,
All right, Mr. Ego, here, Iunrolled, I unfurled the drawing
and held it up, and heimmediately zoned in on it. Wow.
And I'm like, champ, champ. Canyou please sign this for me? And
(48:38):
he just kind of looks and hegoes, you know, he motions for
it to be brought up to him.Yeah, so my heart goes in my
throat as I hand this drawing tothe people in front of me. But
the crowd was cool. They didthe, you know, they they passed
it up to him. So he finally getsthe drawing, he unrolls it, and
(49:04):
he looks at it, and he smileslike approvingly, yeah, and, and
he said he he held it up to hisface. That's great. And I
remember hearing cameras goingoff, yeah, to this day, I have
yet to find anybody that I knowthat life mag Sports Illustrated
(49:26):
somebody Yeah, has pictures ofthat man holding up the drawing
to his face, yeah. But anyway,he held in the crowd.
You didn't take a selfie. He
holds it up to his face, and thecrowd goes, yeah. And he says
something that, well, he usesthe N word, okay, yeah. And he
(49:50):
said, Man, there ain't no N wordfighter this pretty well. So
him. And he signed it, and heheld it back, you know, and the
crowd, you know,
they they brought it back toyou, they brought it back to me.
Well, that's unheard
(50:10):
All right? And that wouldn'thappen today. No, I would not
this. Wow,
if I that's really good. Youdrew that, yeah, 17 years old
man. He did, that's the timewhen I, when I did okay. But is
that pencil? Charkin? Chocolate,charcoal? Maybe. Yeah, this the
drawing is just, is just pencil,but to tilt it forward a little
(50:33):
bit, yeah? But he signed, it's78 Muhammad Ali, wow. And I'm
told that, you know, he later inlife, he was, like a lot of lot
of athletes, he signed a lot ofstuff, but the fact that it was
during his active time he signedat 78 makes this, if I ever
(50:53):
wanted to get rid of it, makesit pretty valuable. Well, you're
not kidding for Ali fans,
and you did a great job
on that, yeah, so, but yeah, youknow, as you can imagine, that's
a prize possession. And,
oh yeah, hang on, that's reallycool. What a great story behind.
But that is a
great story, yeah, so, you know.And I can remember standing
(51:15):
there in the crowd, and peopleare jamming their hands in my
back pockets and stuff, youknow. So I I actually had my
wallet down. I stuck it down inmy underwear, over my crotch,
because people that's that'sgood to know. Let's keep it the
frame.
I learned that. I learned thatat Mardi Gras. Okay, you don't
(51:35):
put your you don't put yourwallet in your back pocket at
Mardi Gras, that's where you putit. But of course, in New
Orleans, putting stuff at yourcrotch, that ain't foolproof
either. But anyway, so yeah,that was quite the experience,
man. But yeah, you know MerleHaggard. My favorite memory.
(51:56):
That's one of my favoritememories. It is a good memory.
It was kind of my my encounterwith the greatest
well, they kind of wrap this up.I'll tell you another great mom
and Ali story. It came fromWayland, Jennings. I saw it on
it was whatever Gary Chapman washosting. I think it was called
Music City. Tonight. Is afterRalph had I know there was Ralph
(52:18):
Nashville. Now, wasn't it? Wasit started out Nashville. Now I
think, yeah, I think it becamesomething, yeah, you're right. I
don't know. I don't know. It mayhave kept the same. But anyway,
he was talking to WaylandJennings, and Waylon was talking
about that his daughter wasdating this guy, and she brought
the guy to her house. She didn'ttell him her last name, that
(52:40):
Jennings was her last name. Shebrings, she brings this guy to
her home, which is waylonshouse. He said, I answer the
door. And he said, on one sideof me is Johnny Cash, and on
another side of me is MuhammadAli. And he said, This poor
boy's eyes look like the looklike the donkey on Hee Haw, and
(53:04):
he said, I just looked at thekids. Said, rough life, ain't
it, son. But anyway, Iappreciate everybody joining us
on our podcast, the debutcircling the drain. We're going
to have a lot more, and we'regoing to have some interesting
guests for you too in thefuture, but we hope you always
join us, and we hope that youhave a great day, whatever it
(53:26):
is, and don't, don't just godown the drain circle the drain
baby. That's from Johnny and Jimand Jay. We'll see you next time
you I'm.
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